THE ABCs OF LEGISLATIVE HALL

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

A is for Amen. It ends the
prayer that opens the legislative day and marks the
transition to legislative business. From "Let us pray"
to "Let us prey"

B is for Below-the-canal. Never
mind the divisions between Democrats and Republicans,
the Senate and the House of Representatives, the
executive and the legislative branches, the eternal
divide in Delaware is upstate and downstate

C is for Nancy Cook and her son
Tom Cook. She is the Senate co-chair of the Joint
Finance Committee, and he is the secretary of finance.
It gives a whole new meaning to "cook the books"

D is for Democrats. The
governor is a Democrat, the lieutenant governor is a
Democrat, and so is the control of the Senate and the
House. They're everywhere, they're everywhere

E is for Elections. Look at
what you've created, voters. Try harder

F is for the First State. We'll
always have 1787

G is for Gambling. This session
brought table games and some football action but no bill
allowing new casinos. Bet it will be back next time

H is for Hand out. What every
legislator has

I is for Incumbent. The
prerequisite for the hand out

J is for Judges. Delaware is
the only state requiring political balance on the
judiciary. Otherwise, after 17 years of Democratic
governors and 37 years of a Senate Democratic majority,
the Republican lawyer would be extinct

K is for Kent County. New
Castle County has the corporate capital, Sussex County
has the vacation capital, and Kent County wound up with
the state capital. It seemed like a good idea in 1777,
didn't it?

L is for Lobbyists. They are
the reason legislators believe in reincarnation. They
have faith they can come back as lobbyists

M is for Jack Markell. It is
grand being the governor, except for the 21 senators and
41 representatives who constitute 62 albatrosses, but
who's counting?

N is for Nepotism. Legislators
can be quite devout about relations with their hire
power

O is for Bill Oberle, the
Republican state representative who is retiring. A lot
less is going to get done without him

P is for President pro tem.
What wisdom it is that the constitution puts the
lieutenant governor, the secretary of state and the
attorney general in the line of succession for governor
before the Senate president pro tem, without even
knowing that someday the pro tem would be Tony DeLuca

Q is for Queen. That would be
Nancy Cook, a Democratic senator from Kent County since
1974. Nothing happens in Legislative Hall without her.
She probably could take it with her when she goes

R is for Republican, the
incredibly shrinking party. Only three representative
districts have more Republican voters than Democrats,
and only one senatorial district, and it has a
Democratic senator. Maybe "R" does not stand for
Republican, but Republi-can't.

S is for Speaker. As a
legislator since 1972 and the Democratic minority leader
since 1995, Bob Gilligan's strategy to get to be speaker
finally paid off. He out-waited everybody

T is for sales Tax. This is
Delaware. Not on your life

U is for Upstairs. This is
where the governor's office is, on the second floor
above the legislative chambers. When people say they are
"going upstairs," they are going to see the governor

V is for Votes. There really is
only one law in Legislative Hall -- who has the votes?

W is for Wired. This is what a
bill is when it has the votes

X is for X-treme legislating,
or what happens after midnight on June 30

Y is for Yuengling. There's a
reason so many legislative offices have refrigerators